Government

A rezoning request that may lead to some type of expansion at McClancy Seasoning is back on the table, or at least, talking about it is.
After voting 4-3 earlier this month to deny the rezoning request, on Nov. 23, members of Lancaster County Council passed two motions on the matter.

A month after a proposed residency requirement for county department heads stalled, county leaders resurrected the idea during Lancaster County Council’s Nov. 9 meeting.
Councilman Larry Honeycutt, one of the council members who brought the idea back for consideration, said it should be a major condition of employment that county managers and directors live within the county’s borders.
“Employees who have an impact on how our tax revenue is spent should be residents of Lancaster County,” Honeycutt contended.

KERSHAW – There are some things you just can’t budget and plan for, no matter how much you’d like to.
One of them is damage from lightning strikes.
Kershaw Town Administrator Joe Boyes told town council this week the 2015-16 budget for the Kershaw Recreation Center is out of balance, thanks to Mother Nature.
The matter came up during the administrator’s monthly financial report at the Nov. 16 town council meeting.

The first item on the agenda for new Lancaster city administrator Steven James “Flip” Hutfles is teaching people how to properly pronounce his name.
“You say it pretty much like it looks. It’s Hutfles (HUT-fless). That’s the reason I always answer the phone, ‘Hello, this is Flip. How can I help you today?’ It’s also why I made sure they included Flip on this,” he said, laughing while he picked up his nameplate.

Helen Sowell will finally get to spend some time with her grandchildren.
Sowell is stepping down as the City of Lancaster interim administrator.
Although her official retirement date was May 31, Sowell agreed to stay on until the city found a replacement.
New City Administrator Steven “Flip” Hutfles starts Monday, Nov. 16.
City leaders recognized Sowell for her 34 years of service to the municipality at the Tuesday, Nov. 10, Lancaster City Council meeting.

The City of Lancaster will support the county’s new economic development department instead of the Lancaster County Economic Development Corp.
City council made that decision Tuesday night, Nov. 10, after hearing a presentation from Lancaster County Council Chairman Bob Bundy about what the county is creating. Last month, city council tabled a vote on its annual LCEDC funding until it got more information about the county’s plan.
City council had budgeted $25,000 for its 2015-16 LCEDC membership/participation dues, which were due July 1.

Two weeks after receiving a $129,000 severance payment from the Lancaster County Economic Development Corp., former agency President Keith Tunnell sent a letter to county leaders threatening to sue them unless he received an additional payment of more than $200,000.
In the Sept. 4 letter, which was written three and a half weeks after Lancaster County Council voted to rescind all of its funding for the LCEDC, Tunnell insists he has “been the victim of improper and illegal procedures” on the part of the county government and administration.

One day before Lancaster County Council defunded the Lancaster County Economic Development Corp., agency President Keith Tunnell accused county leaders and employees of saying he had used his position for improper financial gain.
In an email to County Administrator Steve Willis and Council Chairman Bob Bundy on Aug. 9, Tunnell expressed concern that they and “others connected with county government” were alleging he had “profited personally” in exchange for promoting incentives for local companies, among them Haile Gold Mine.

KERSHAW – Town employees are learning that Joe Boyes likes to learn from the ground up, which is why sanitation workers may have been caught a little by surprise early Monday, Nov. 9.
Boyes, 30, the new town administrator, showed up for work a little before midnight, Sunday, Nov. 8, to introduce himself as they were getting ready to start that day’s residential trash pick-up.

Plummeting property values were not even on Howard Kance’s radar when he moved into his home in the BridgeMill neighborhood a few years ago, though it was his main concern as he sat in Lancaster County Council’s chambers Monday night, Nov. 9.
Joining more than 100 of his neighbors, some spilling out the doors and all clad in red shirts, Kance hoped to urge council members not to approve a proposed industrial rezoning for McClancy Seasoning, an established spice business located directly next to his Indian Land neighborhood, just off U.S. 521.